The Rise of Species: Dragons

by Zarmflamekin

Finding A Clue

Both of the guards looked back towards the Badlands, Pointed Eye tilting his head slightly. “I’d say that would definitely fit more than ten fully grown dragons.”

“B-bu-but that’s completely improbable.” Twilight stuttered. “There’s no way Tiamat could be that big! Her own size and mass would make her unable to move!”

“Twi, have you ever noticed how light I am?” Spike questioned, Twilight just blinking owlishly at him. “When you went off to the Crystal Empire to get the Equestria Games held there, I took all of your pets on a walk, and Owlowiscious and Tank were able to pick me off the ground, while Owlowiscious was carrying Gummy. And there was that time that I grew after my birthday and my claw barely left a print that anypony would trip over. Face it, this is completely possible. Plus, factor in that Tiamat was basically born from primal magic, which has on nill mass, and the fact that gravity works near at all is impressive.”

Twilight kept looking at Spike, though now not in shock, but more in awe, even Pointed Eye and Steady Wing were looking a bit stunned. Spike looked back at them with a growing sense of unease. “What?”

“That’s… surprisingly well thought out.” Twilight commented before looking away to the Badlands. If she had to be honest, she hadn’t ever really thought about how light Spike was. She had berated him more than a few times to cut back on eating so he wouldn’t become fat and heavy, but even when he had kicked her sides that one time in the Diamond Dog mines, she had reacted more in annoyance than pain. Soon, a small nagging thought began to pester her.

How much did she actually know about Spike?

“If I may ask then, what is our next task if we have indeed found the nest we’re looking for?” Steady Wing asked. This seemed to snap Twilight a bit out of her reprieve.

“Oh, well, right. This is going to be a bit harder to do now. My original plan had us examining the nest for any recent activities and following the clues to our objective.”

“Our objective ma’am?” Pointed Eye asked. Spike looked to Twilight, who was already contemplating Spike.

“We’re here for you Spike, you decide what to tell them.” Twilight relinquished.

Spike nervously scratched his chin. “Heh, well, we’re looking for one of Tiamat’s brood.” Spike began as he clutched ‘The Rise and Fall of Tiamat’ closer. “I… had a dream of meeting the red dragon Pyrathy. And from what Twilight and I could piece together about the ‘home of the dragons’ being Tiamat’s nest for hatching her brood, we’re here to find Pyrathy.”

Steady Wing and Pointed Eye were both silent and stoic. Spike honestly wondered if they were considering on tuning tail right there and heading back to Canterlot. That was until Pointed Eye spoke up with a question.

“So how big are we talking here?” A question that threw both Twilight and Spike a bit off kilter. “I mean, if the Badlands are the nest we’re looking for, and taking into account of roam-able space, how big are the… whelps?”

“Well, it was a dream, but bigger than Canterlot Mountain? Oh! Also underground, Pyrathy was sleeping underground.”

“That certainly seems to make sense.” Steady Wing huffed. “If he were as big as Canterlot Mountain and not underground somewhere around here, I’d say you were pulling our legs.”

“Yeah, but then there also a logistical problem.” Pointed Eye pointed out. “How is a cave as big as a mountain not collapsing in on itself?”

“Are you a geologist Point?” Steady asked.

Pointed grimaced a bit and answered dourly “No.”

“Then better to not question it. Remember Point, the less you unravel-“

“The sturdier it stays.” Pointed sighed. “Sometimes I hate guard logic.”

“That said, why are we looking for Pyrathy sir?” Steady Wing asked.

“It’s a feeling really.” Spike shrugged. “Just something about seeing him. It’s not even like he gave me a message, he just said ‘Welcome home Spike.’”

“Hm.” Steady Wing contemplated. “Seeing as we’ve completed step one, I can say we have two things to go on.” Both Spike and Twilight perked up upon this announcement. “Of our initial sweep, we came upon two noticeable occurrences, the large crevices as noted by Spike and Point, as well as the rock formations as noted by Princess Twilight. Both could be viable starting points.”

Everyone contemplated Steady Wing’s assessment a bit as they each slowly made their way through their lunches. When everything was packed and placed back in the carriage, Twilight sighed.

“I guess we’ll do another fly-by of the crevices and see if there’s any potential for them to lead to the cave Spike mentioned.” Twilight glanced up to approximate the sun’s position. “Another four or five good hours of sun left. Spike, how many did you count?”

“Uh…” Spike paused as he prepped to get in the carriage. He hadn’t counted as at first he hadn’t really thought anything of them.

“At least twenty ma’am.” Pointed Eye answered for the drake.

“And to have been spotted by eye from our position… ugh. We might get to five if they’re not that deep.”

“Wait, twenty?” Spike asked, having taken his seat in the carriage.

“At least.” Pointed Eye nodded.

“And going on the hypothesis that this is Tiamat’s nest for five…” Spike lead on. Steady Wing and Twilight both groaned as each proceeded to face-hoof.

“How did I not see that?” Twilight grumbled.

“See what?” Pointed asked.

“They’re probably from the whelps crawling out of the nest a few times Point.” Steady Wing answered. “So that leaves us with the melted rocks.”

“Which may or not be a thing.” Twilight lamented. “Even then, they were scattered about the middle of the Badlands, there’s not going to be a cave entrance around there.”

“Says who?” Spike spoke up. “A cave is just some hollow space in the ground, that doesn’t mean it can’t be made in the middle of nowhere.”

“As that may be, I would’ve noted any cave entrance if I had seen it from the first fly-by.” Twilight answered as she propped herself on the side of the carriage to look Spike in the eye.

“But you weren’t looking for a cave then, you were looking for a nest.”

“A nest could be in a cave, I accounted for that.”

“Princess, if I may?” Steady Wing approached, Pointed Eye having opted to stay out of any argument and began to hitch himself up. Twilight took a deep breath as she dropped back down to all fours to address the corporal.

“Yes corporal?”

“There’s not much known on dragons as a whole, but we are aware they are on the higher end of the magical scale. If we are dealing with a dragon that is only a generation away from pure magic, couldn’t there be a way to track him?” Spike popped over the side of the carriage, curious of the answer Twilight would give to such an inquiry. Twilight herself began to contemplate that herself, but soon shook her head.

“I don’t think so. To even track magic, you somewhat need to know what you’re tracking, be that a type of spell or pony. I don’t know enough about Pyrathy to even begin to think of a tracking spell for him.”

“Well, we sort of do.” Twilight and Steady Wing looked to Spike. “He’s part of the fire aspect of Tiamat. Steady Wing is on to something Twi. It’s not like that many things live out here to begin with, so maybe a base level fire tracking spell would help point us toward him.” Again, Twilight considered the answer presented to her.

“But Spike, if I do that, I’m going to be half blind from sitting next to you. And I’m not sure I could fly and hold the necessary intensity for the spell.”

“That aside, your presumption on the inhabitance of the Badlands is off.” Steady Wing said. “They may not be out right now, but there are plenty of creatures living in the Badlands.”

“Which then leads into the impracticality of having the cave entrance in the middle of the Badlands where anything could stumble in and find Pyrathy.” Twilight concluded. The three fell silent, having no solution to their predicament.

“We’ll head for the rocks first.” Steady Wing finally said. “I think I remember what you described Princess, there were only a few of them, and their surface level, so they won’t take much investigating.”

“All right corporal.” Twilight nodded in agreement as she boarded the carriage. Spike noticed that Twilight had seemed to have lost her flair for this adventure, and was equally unsure now. They had little to nothing to track, and basically his gut feeling was their only reason for being here in the first place.

“Sorry for dragging you out on this Twilight.” Spike said remorsefully as the carriage began to move. Twilight jerked at the sudden apology, quite confused.

“What’s there to apologize for Spike? This is just a bit more mind-boggling, that’s all.”

“Yeah, but you could be back at the castle doing something important right now than helping me look at a barren wasteland.”

“Spike.” Twilight felt a bit hurt at his beratement of his importance to her. “This is important. It’s important to you, and thus just as important to me. Just because we’re stalled a little doesn’t mean this has become ever less so.” She put a hoof under his chin to lift his gaze to meet hers. “Is that clear?”

Spike looked back at Twilight, looking to see any resentment for being here. He nodded resolutely when he found none. “Yeah, just gotta keep going.”

Twilight smiled and looked back ahead to see how far the pillars were. Steady Wing had indeed remembered correctly what Twilight described, because they were soon approaching the first pillar that she noted the sloping formation. It was rather high up, at least at the castle’s second story, so the Dawn Guard kept in flight as the four slowly began to move about the pillar.

Spike noticed that Twilight had made an accurate assumption. Many of the freestanding formations were very rough and jagged, the only places with a smoother appearance were at the very bottom as rocks slopped away from the pillars, but what they were looking at were very smooth, convex formations. Something had blown over it rather than down it. But that was about where the oddities stopped. Twilight tried finding any magical resonance, but that came to nothing. Nothing stood out about it other than its odd formation.

“There’s nothing here corporal, move on to the next one!” Twilight called out, making the two pegasi pull away and make their way towards the next pillar Steady Wing could recall. In total, there were eleven pillars that Twilight and Steady Wing could recall and spot. Twilight and Spike came to a conclusion that the abnormality had to mean something, as there were to many to be a coincidence, but they couldn’t find a rhyme or reason to the formations. All they could determine that some seemed to be only slightly lower or higher than the first one they found.

Twilight finally called the search to be done for the day and for the Guard to find the place they wanted to set camp. Steady Wing nodded to Pointed Eye and both turned and began to fly up to the plateau tops of the Badlands border. Once they landed, both unceremoniously unhooked themselves and flopped forward.

“Oh no, I’ll get you two some water, I’ll be right back.” Twilight said as she pulled out their now empty canteens before popping off once again. Neither corporal seemed fit to complain.

“You could have told us you were tired.” Spike huffed as he hopped out of the carriage.

“It’s… not our… place.” Steady Wing panted. This just made Spike groan.

“Not our place this, it’s our job that. C’mon guys, consistency. Twilight’s probably frazzled now seeing you two like this for her.”

“We’re here to work.” Pointed Eye pointed out, having significantly caught his breath. “And that is what we’re doing.”

“Yeah, and you won’t be doing any of us any good if you drop out of the sky in exhaustion you nimrod.” Spike growled as he got back to the carriage, rummaging for some of their travel snacks, finding some left over sunflower seeds. Gathering up the last of them in two tins, he brought them back to the Guards. “It’s not much, but we -well, Twilight- planned for a day or two. I’ll let her pick out your dinner.”

Steady Wing lifted an eyebrow at the offered snack, but Pointed Eye took his share and started popping them in his mouth. Twilight came back with three water loaded canteens and one frazzled mane.

“I’m so sorry you two. You never said anything, but I should have taken this into account. I've never actually had to have scouted anything this long, I’m so sorry. Just try to rehydrate right now and I’ll fill them up as much as necessary.” She rambled as she nearly shoved two of the canteens to the Guards.

“See, what did I tell you?” Spike smirked before patting Twilight on her wither. “Calm down a bit Twi, they were just being a bit dumb like you were.” This gained a pointed glare from Steady Wing, a look of shock from Pointed Eye, and a sheepish smile from Twilight herself.

“Eh heh, maybe we should take some more regular breaks tomorrow?” Twilight offered, to which Steady Wing nodded, not quite losing his evil eye on Spike.

“As we should. This does seem to be taking a bit longer than anticipated.”

“Oh no, do you two need to be back in Canterlot?” Twilight’s mane slightly fringed in concern, making Spike kneed his brow.

“Not necessarily, we’ve had a few long missions before.” Pointed Eye responded offhandedly. “We just need to check back at base before doing anything else when we get back is all.”

“Oh, ok then.” Twilight straightened up a little bit, her previous stress seeming to fall away. “Tonight we have either dandelion and carrot salads or brussel sprout, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches. One for the other tomorrow.”

“Salad please.” Pointed said.

“I’ll take the sandwich.” Steady replied.

Twilight nodded and headed to their bags, Spike would have followed for his evening opal, but Steady Wing held a wing out to block his way. Spike looked up to see a heated gaze from Steady Wing burning into him.

“You will not speak to the Princess like that again, am I understood?”

Spike raised a brow. “And what makes you think you can dictate how I talk to Twilight?”

“Because it is not the proper way to speak to a Princess.” Steady pressed his wing into Spike’s stomach. “And if you do-”

“You’ll what?” Spike cut off. “Twilight’s my friend. A close friend. I could speak this informally to Shining Armor and nopony would bat an eye.” Steady Wing actually began to growl, so Spike took a deep breath before continuing. “Look, this isn’t anything formal. We’re here to look for something we have no idea where it could be. We all need to be a team, and all of us being ramrod straight is going to make this a lot harder.”

“He’s got a point Steady.” Pointed Eye nudged his comrades wing. “Lighten up a little. Being on guard is all right, but snapping at every little thing isn’t helping”

“Hmph.” Steady Wing snorted as he folded his wing back. Spike gave Steady Wing a once over before proceeding to his snack bag, where he found Twilight with two salads and a sandwich in her magic.

“Everything all right Spike?” Twilight glanced over to the two waiting guards, Steady Wing finally nibbling on his sunflower seeds. “That didn’t seem to pleasant.”

Spike just shrugged. “Steady Wing didn’t like how I talked to you, that’s all.” He said as he began to pick through his prepared bag for the opal he spied earlier.

“Oh, should I talk to him about it? I mean, it’s not all that unusual for us, but for them…” Twilight tapered off.

“Maybe, if you think it’ll help. But I think Point is on the same page as I am.” Spike said as he finally pulled out his meal for the night.

“Oh really now?” Twilight leaned in to be right next to Spike. “And what page would that be?”

“That Steady Wing need’s to get that stick out of his-“ Spike was cut off by the opal being stuffed in his mouth.

“Be glad we don’t have any soap out here.” Twilight smirked. Spike grumbled as she walked off, licking the opal and savoring its vanilla like flavor. Spike made sure there was not bad mood between Twilight and the Guard before gazing out towards the Badlands, sucking on the gem. He began contemplating if they should really be out here. Twilight might have said this was important, but she also said that because she thought it was important to him. But was it really?

Yeah, he had felt a sort of attraction to find Pyrathy, but it was more of a compulsion than anything else. If he had really felt like it, he could have put this whole expedition off and ignored it. But then again, it might have just nagged at him until he did look into it. Spike just sighed in a bit of irritation, wishing he had the same level of laxation that Pyrathy did.

Spike’s head lolled to the side as he continued his meal, feeling Twilight taking the tent supplies out from behind him. His eyes began to droop as the thought of sleep crept up on him, maybe he might even find something out tonight that could help tomorrow. Though just another float around Pyrathy probably wouldn’t help all that much, and it probably wasn’t possible to get an answer out of a dream. Spike kind of wished the first dream had really had a point.

Spike kneaded his eyes and yawned, quickly grabbing his now half-sized opal as it fell out. He looked around to see if the other three had seen it, but was satisfied to see that they seemed to be focused on setting up the two tents. He sighed in content, and was about to head to them when he glanced the pillars they had looked at earlier, and two of the melted portions seemed to line up a bit to perfectly.

Spike quickly swallowed the remainder of his meal and finally hopped down from the carriage. The two sections seemed to stack on top of each other, making a sort of ‘z’ shape. Tilting his head to see if there was anything else about it, he saw the lower half seemed to be parallel to another melted portion on the same height. Walking a bit to his left, the second lower portion made a reverse ‘z’, which didn’t help much.

But now, further to his left, another melted section looked to be higher than both sections. Moving a bit further, the three concurrent melted rocks made a reverse ‘z’ staircase. The way the melted rocks seemed to mesh together seemed to convenient to Spike, so he ran back to the group, finding them in the middle of a disagreement.

“-and I haven’t flown at all today, I’m far more fit for the trip.” Twilight declared with a hoof to her chest.

“And it’s getting on sunset Princess. Far too many things around here are going to be coming out of the woodwork. We can be down and back with what we need for the night without risking your safety.” Steady Wing countered.

“Hey guys! I think I found-“ Spike began.

“Plus, we’re trained in spotting viable wood. No detriment to your abilities Princess, but a split focus is a dead focus.” Pointed Eye backed up.

“Guys! You should see-“

“And while I understand that, I reiterate that I am currently more abled body than both of you. I already conceded the night watch, but let me do this for you!” Twilight stamped her hoof.

“HEY!” Spike finally roared, startling the arguing the trio as well as a flock of birds far below. “Finally.” Spike snorted. “I think I found something you get a look at.”

The three looked between each other before Twilight got up and slowly followed Spike back to what he found. Steady Wing nodded to Pointed Eye towards the forest below before following. Pointed Eye sighed in relief as he went off for firewood for the night.

Spike walked back to his last observation, noticing Pointed Eye hadn’t followed. He rolled his eyes as he pointed towards his discovery. “Can you tell me if you see anything weird out there?”

Twilight and Steady Wing walked up and peered past his claw, but neither saw what he did. Twilight drew back and shook her head. “I don’t Spike, what do you see?”

“I see sort of this little zig-zag between the melted portions of the pillars.” Spike explained.

“I think I see what you’re describing.” Steady Wing said as he cocked his head to the side. “What do you think I means?”

“I’m not really sure, that’s why I got you two.”

“Two?” Twilight looked behind her and groaned in annoyance. “Well, spilled milk.” She said as she glared at Steady Wing. “As for this development, maybe we’ve been thinking a bit too small, literally.” Twilight looked back out to the Badlands, trying to remember the exact locations of each of the pillars. “Tiamat and her brood were massive, so even their smallest efforts were probably still huge on our scale. This actually might be a clue.” Twilight leveled her gaze back on Steady Wing. “Corporal, if you would like to accompany me.” She said in an icy tone as she took off, Steady Wing staying right where he was.

“Geez, you’ve gotta be AJ levels of stubborn, huh?” Spike smirked at Steady Wing before looking up at Twilight, who was currently hanging in the air, her horn aglow.

“You can’t budge on the right course of action.” Steady Wing said flatly.

“Well that wholly depends on who thinks they’re right.” Spike jabbed, gaining no further quips from Steady Wing. The two just looked up to Twilight expectantly as nothing seemed to happen as she beat her wings to stay airborne. Forever seemed to pass before Twilight suddenly did a loop-de-loop in place, a small cry of excitement closely followed as she descended.

“What happened?” Spike asked as she touched down.

“Progress!” Twilight beamed. “You’re right Spike, the rocks do line up, in an arrow!”

“As in…” Spike began hopefully.

“As in directly to one of the crevices!” Twilight hopped up and down. “I knew it wouldn’t be out in the open.”

“All right smarty pants, you were right.” Spike rolled his eyes. “At least we don’t have to check every nook and cranny now.” Spike allowed himself to smile.

“OOoohhh, this is just getting so exciting!” Twilight pranced from hoof to hoof. “I wonder what he’ll be like. The put’s him down as lazy, but I bet he’s just less proactive than the others. Oh! I wonder what he knows about the Princesses from the early days! I bet there’s a lot of things historians liked to gloss over! Do you think that-“

“Twilight, Twilight, pull it back.” Spike tried to calm the overexcited alicorn. “Save some of that energy for tomorrow. You won’t be able to sleep at this rate.”

“Right, right, you’re right.” Twilight smiled as she took a slow, calm breath. “Let’s head back and tell Pointed Eye.”

“Or, you know, wait for him to get back.” Spike noted nonchalantly.

Suddenly, a loud *CRACK* from a breaking tree rang out came from the forest behind them.

“Ech, does he really have to do that?” Twilight asked.

“No, he doesn’t.” Steady Wing said gravely as he began to run towards the sound.

Comments

[Eonflare]

At this rate, it'll be a surprise if they find a small clue as opposed to a big one.